First consignment of Kazakh oil delivered to Transneft system for shipment to Germany - KazTransOil

ASTANA. Feb 27 (Interfax) - KazTransOil has delivered Kazakh oil to the main pipeline system of PJSC Transneft for shipment to Germany, Shyngys Ilyasov, director of KazTransOil public relations and internal communications department, told Interfax.

"On February 25, JSC KazTransOil delivered 20,000 tonnes of Kazakh oil to the main pipeline system of PJSC Transneft in the direction of the Adamova Zastava oil custody transfer station for further shipment to Germany," Ilyasov said.

In December 2022, KazTransOil submitted an annual request to transport 1.2 million tonnes of Kazakh oil in 2023 through Transneft's trunk oil pipeline system in the direction of the Adamova Zastava oil delivery point for further delivery to Germany.

Consistent with plans to reduce dependence on Russian oil, European buyers have requested increased crude oil supplies from Kazakhstan. Russia approved Kazakhstan's request to transport Kazakh oil through the Druzhba pipeline to Germany. In Q1, KazTransOil planned to transit 300,000 tonnes of Kazakh oil to Germany.

Kazakhstan's Energy Minister Bolat Akchulakov told reporters that the country plans to export 1.5 million tonnes of oil to Germany in 2023 and may increase the volume to 7 million tons.

KazMunayGas (KMG) chief Magzum Mirzagaliyev, explained that Kazakh oil will be sent to the refinery in Schwedt, which was previously owned by Rosneft , but in September 2022 was transferred to the control of the Federal Network Agency of Germany. Rosneft Deutschland (a Rosneft subsidiary) accounted for about 12% of German refining capacity and was one of the largest players on the local fuel market. The refinery in Schwedt has a capacity of 11.6 million tonnes of petroleum products per year. From its design stage, the refinery has historically been linked to the Druzhba pipeline and Russian oil fields.